Titanic auction bombshell as one artefact from wreckage is tipped to fetch huge price tag

Tycoon Col. John Jacob Astor was one of the wealthiest people in the world when he died as the liner sank on April 15, 1912.

Astor, 47, helped his pregnant wife Madeleine, 19, into a lifeboat after the Titanic struck an iceberg 400 miles off Newfoundland.

He was stopped from joining her by First Officer Charles Lightoller who was prioritising women and children. Impeccably dressed, Astor was last seen smoking on the bridge and chatting to a fellow first class passenger.

A body recovered from the North Atlantic seven days later was identified as Astor by the initials JJR on his jacket. The 14-carat engraved Waltham watch was in a pocket.

The timepiece and much of Astor’s estate – worth £55million then, £7billion now – was left to his son Vincent, 20, who had the watch restored and wore it until 1935 when he gifted it to his godson William Dobbyn.

Dobbyn’s father, also William, had been the magnate’s executive secretary. He had joined recently-divorced Astor and his teenage bride on honeymoon to Egypt and France in September 1911 but stayed in France when the couple boarded the Titanic to return to the US.

The watch was acquired from Dobbyn’s family by a Titanic collector in the 1990s and it has been displayed, including at the National Geographic Exhibition in Washington DC.

It is being sold by Henry Aldridge & Son of Devizes, Wilts, tomorrow with an affidavit from Dobbyn Snr’s daughter-in-law confirming it was a gift from Vincent Astor. The auction house’s estimate is £100,000 to £150,000. Its auctioneer Andrew Aldridge said: “It is a unique part of the Titanic story.”

Gold cufflinks given by Astor to Dobbyn are valued at £5,000 to £8,000 while a map of Titanic’s staterooms, used by Dobbyn to plan his employer’s voyage, may fetch £20,000 to £30,000. Suites C74 and C76 are circled with the note “$1225.00 Apr 10 From Cherbourg”.